Evapotranspiración y eficiencia en el uso de agua en intercultivos maíz-soja vs cultivos puros

this work studies the real evapotranspiration (ret) and the water use efficiency (wue) in a maize-soybean intercrop with two spatial arrangements and in their sole crops. the experiment was conducted in the uib, fca-unmdp eea inta during the 2007-2008 season. treatments were: a) 2 rows soybeans and 1 row maize intercrop (2_1), b) 3 rows soybean and 2 rows maize intercrop (3_2), c) sole maize and d) sole soybean. crops were sown on october 18 (maize) and december 3 (soybean). ret accumulated from maize emergence to soybean physiological maturity was 586,7, 564,8, 570,5 y 596,0 mm for 2_1, 3_2, sole maize and sole soybean, respectively. water use efficiency (wue) as the quotient between accumulated shoot biomass and ret was significantly higher in sole maize (44,5 kg ha-1mm-1) than in sole soybean (18,6 kg ha-1mm-1), 2_1 (35,3 kg ha-1mm-1) and 3_2 (35,3 kg ha-1mm-1). wue of sole soybean was significantly lower than those of the intercrops. wue as the quotient between grain biomass and ret, were 21,2, 5,5, 16,9 y 17,0 kg ha-1mm-1 for sole maize, sole soybean, 2_1 and 3_2 intercrop, respectively. significant differences were like those found for shoot biomass wue.